Dec 14 (Reuters) - The California Public Utilities Commission has opened a proceeding to consider penalties against Pacific Gas and Electric Company, ordering immediate action against the utility for falsifying safety documents for natural gas pipelines, the regulator said in a statement on Friday.

The state regulator of utilities found PG&E lacked enough employees lacked sufficient staffing to locate and mark natural gas pipelines in compliance with law, leading staff to falsify data from 2012 to 2017.

PG&E was not immediately available for a comment. (Reporting by Rishika Chatterjee in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft)